Comparison photos: (soon have to wait for bot)
I'm so excited to have done this competition. My wife entered the fat loss category, and I am very thankful that she was on board the whole time and helped keep me honest. I found it a lot easier to stay on track with someone else whose goals were right on par with mine.
Training:
I was just coming off of a 5 3 1 routine and pretty much maxed out on all my major lifts. When BTFC started I went from a 3 day work out week focusing on strength to a 6 day routine focusing on cutting while maintaining strength. PPL worked very well. I was doing Push, Legs, then Pull. I moved legs in between days. Noticing my energy wasn't fully there on a calorie deficit if I did push then pull back to back. The day off I didn't really take. I would normally do some cardio or stairclimbing or focus on a muscle group I felt was lacking that week. The last 2 weeks of the competition was one hell of a workout. 25 mins of steady speed followed by 5 mins of HIIT. If I could sneak in early I would do this early and lift later trying to give 4 hours in between. If I couldn't squeeze it in I would do all at the same time. With 30 seconds of rest on my lifts I really kept my heart rate up and noticed dramatic changes that last week.
Starting lifts: Finishing lifts:
Bench 375 365 Deadlift 435 405 Squat 405 405
Normally, I dont push my squats to hard. I continue to do them consistently, but, my age is starting to show.
My bench barely changed and this is the lift I was most concerned on keeping strong.
Diet:
My maintain is about 3200. This leaves me alot of room. I really tried to move to much cleaner foods. Fast food was a thing of the past. We cooked every night. Lots of chicken, rice, and veg.
2 shakes a day 3 scoops every time. So my breakfast was liquid. I normally dont eat lunch (never really have). Then we would have a nice family dinner with healthy choices. After my evening workout I would have another 3 scoop shake. This was really easy for me to maintain my energy with only one large meal a day. But, everyone is different so find what works for you. Also, rice cakes don't last long around here anymore. If I wanted a snack It was pretty much a rice cake, fruit, or plain chicken and rice. Coffee was my crutch. My portioning of creamer was way off what normal actually is. The premade ones showed me how much should be added. I cut the sugar out completely and only added one tablespoon per coffee. But, I would have one in the morning and maybe 2 before a workout.
Supplements:
GNC ripped strawberry vanilla L-arginine GNC chewables daily vitamins Vitamin C / D Potassium Fish Oil omega 3's Creatine Jekyll and hyde pre-workout
I used pre-workout only when I felt I needed the boost or came home extra tired from work. Also, I know protein comes cheaper from hundreds of other supplements. I used this to simplify my macros until I get better at tracking and finding better ways to implement the thermos in the GNC powder.
BTFC has really changed the way I look at food and what I'm putting into my body. I'm not finished. Although, I'm happy with the results I'm not quite where I want to be. I now know that maintaining a healthy life style isn't that difficult. I will continue eating better and moving forward with fitness as a priority. I want to be able to play with my kids when I'm 50 and they're 20.
Also, I will add my N-body scans once the bot gets pics.